Photo source and licence: Joe Glorioso / All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped by The Sporting Page; the crop carries the same licence.
Ben Johnson’s offense opened the 2026 season with eight touchdowns and 552 yards in a 59–37 win over Carolina. Yet the game was tied 31–31 in the third quarter before Chicago scored touchdowns on three straight possessions. The Bears eventually created a comfortable margin, but for much of the afternoon they had to keep answering an opponent that continued to score.
General manager Ryan Poles believes Chicago has the central pieces of a championship team. Speaking to Sky Sports, he described the alignment between Johnson and Caleb Williams as the reason the opportunity exists now. He also acknowledged how much work remains on the other side of the ball. His assessment of the roster leaves room for both championship ambitions and the need to improve.
The argument for Chicago extends beyond the final score. Its offense is building on a substantial improvement, with Williams learning when a routine gain is preferable to an ambitious throw. Whether that combination can make the Bears the NFL’s dominant team depends on how much help it receives when the scoring slows.
The running game makes the variety possible
In Johnson’s first season, Chicago rose from last in total offense in 2024, at 283.5 yards per game, to sixth in 2025, at 369.5. The Bears finished third in rushing yards per game and allowed 24 sacks, the third-fewest. The improvement covered a full season and involved pass protection as well as the ability to move defenders in the running game.
The opener extended that work. D’Andre Swift rushed for 124 yards and three touchdowns, while Kyle Monangai added 100 yards and a score. With Williams contributing another 65 yards, Chicago finished with 291 rushing yards. The running game was producing touchdowns, not just creating manageable situations for the passing game.
Monangai’s 61-yard touchdown illustrated how much of that production depended on teammates without the ball. In the Bears’ account of the play, Luther Burden III and Kalif Raymond supplied blocks just beyond the line of scrimmage that opened his route upfield. Jahdae Walker then shielded a defender farther downfield. The receivers were helping turn a running play into a long touchdown, not waiting for the next pass.
Greg Olsen, speaking on Waddle & Silvy, emphasized how Chicago can change its approach without surrendering that running threat. The Bears can operate from under center or spread out in the shotgun. He pointed to Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland as important parts of that flexibility because their blocking and receiving skills let Johnson ask different things of the same personnel.
In his matchup breakdown, Jon Gruden singled out the right side of Chicago’s line, with Darnell Wright and Jonah Jackson, in explaining the success of its downhill running game. He also highlighted condensed formations, with receivers aligned closer to the offensive line. Those alignments bring potential blockers nearer the running play while preserving the possibility of a receiver releasing into a route.
Olsen also emphasized the sequencing of Johnson’s calls. He described an offense willing to throw on first down, then use a third-down run knowing the coach may try again on fourth. In that approach, third down is not always the final opportunity to keep a possession alive. A defense anticipating a pass can instead find itself having to stop the run.
Williams is doing more with the ordinary plays
Williams completed 21 of 29 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns against Carolina, alongside his two rushing scores. Johnson’s review of the performance included the spectacular escapes, but he also singled out short completions after the first receiver was covered and decisions to abandon plays that offered nothing useful.
“I thought he had some really nice throwaways when the plays weren’t there,” Johnson said in his Monday assessment.
A throwaway does not add to a quarterback’s production, but it can prevent a failed play from becoming a much worse situation. A short completion can keep the next down manageable. Neither requires Williams to stop attempting difficult throws; both give him a way to avoid forcing one when the defense has taken away the intended opportunity.
Poles described a related improvement in the operation of the offense. Williams is more comfortable delivering the call in the huddle and getting everyone aligned before making adjustments. According to Poles, Johnson has also changed the quarterback’s preparation habits, helping him arrive at practices and games with a clearer understanding of what the offense requires.
Those details matter when an offense wants to play quickly. A fast snap is only an advantage if the quarterback and his teammates agree on what they are doing. Better communication also leaves less work to complete after the defense changes its appearance, when the time available to repair a misunderstanding is disappearing.
Johnson also credited Williams’s mobility for rescuing calls against coverage that had taken away the receivers. The quarterback’s task is not to choose between playing within the offense and improvising. It is to recognize when the prepared answer remains available and when escaping the pocket gives the play a better chance.
The defense still has to catch up
Carolina finished with 478 yards and 37 points. The Panthers’ 51-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Coker came in the second quarter, while Chicago still held a lead. Their production cannot all be dismissed as scoring after the outcome was settled; they had already reached 31 points before the Bears began to pull away.
Chicago also put its defense in difficult positions. Burden’s early fumble gave Carolina the ball at the Bears’ 42, and a failed fourth-and-one attempt later handed it possession at Chicago’s 21. Both opportunities became touchdowns. Those decisions and mistakes belong in the assessment of the whole team, rather than being charged exclusively to Dennis Allen’s unit.
The defense responded with three three-and-outs and two takeaways. Special teams supplied another through the recovered muffed punt, giving Chicago three takeaways overall. The defense also stopped Carolina on fourth down just before Monangai’s long touchdown, helping turn a seven-point lead into a two-score advantage.
The balance resembles a concern from last season. Chicago finished 2025 with a league-leading 33 takeaways and a plus-22 turnover differential; its offense contributed by giving the ball away only 11 times. A turnover can end a possession that the defense has otherwise struggled to stop, but it cannot be treated as an available solution whenever a drive becomes dangerous.
Allen wanted fewer assignment mistakes and more effective play up front. “We’ve got to do a better job controlling the line of scrimmage, both in the run game and the pass game,” he said. His concern was whether players were doing the correct job in the correct place, not just whether a different call might help.
Poles acknowledged that the defense has far less continuity than the offense. But Allen was also asked about cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson, whose opener fell below the standard they had set in training camp. His response was to focus on correcting their preparation and performance for the next game. Improvement cannot come only from the new players.
An offense this productive does not require a defense that wins every game by itself. It does require one that can finish possessions without repeatedly giving the ball back after another touchdown. Otherwise, a poor offensive series becomes unusually expensive, and an opponent’s successful adjustment can change the game before Johnson has another chance to respond.
Flores will test the decisions around the ball
Minnesota’s Brian Flores explained the purpose of his aggression in his interview with Chris Simms and Connor Rogers: pressure forces an offense to make urgent decisions, and a single player’s mistake can produce the opening the defense needs. Showing a threatening alignment is useful partly because the defense does not always have to rush the players standing nearest the line.
Gruden’s preview of the matchup put responsibility beyond Chicago’s linemen. A running back may have to identify and block the additional rusher. A receiver may need to shorten his route and offer Williams an immediate target. When a protection deliberately leaves someone unblocked, the quarterback and receiver must agree on how the ball gets out before that defender arrives.
Offensive coordinator Press Taylor described the preparation in terms of making Williams’s answers clear. “It’s on us to simplify his thought process as much as possible,” Taylor said. The point is not to remove every option, but to make sure the quarterback knows which response goes with the problem the defense presents.
Flores described Johnson as a coach who draws from several offensive approaches rather than allowing one system to define the game plan. His assessment of Chicago’s versatility explains why the pressure cannot become predictable either. The Vikings have to threaten disruption without allowing the same offensive answer to work repeatedly.
The useful measure will be whether Chicago can preserve productive downs when its first choice is unavailable. An immediate completion against pressure can be a win without becoming a highlight. So can a correctly blocked run that prevents Minnesota from dictating a long-yardage passing situation.
The test for Allen’s defense has changed as well. Carson Wentz will start for Minnesota at Soldier Field on September 20, with Kyler Murray ruled out because of a concussion. Receiver Jauan Jennings is out for personal reasons, while right tackle Brian O’Neill is questionable with a knee injury. Chicago’s defensive performance will need to be judged against the offense Minnesota actually fields.
A contender has to win below its ceiling
The Bears have a credible case as championship contenders; they have not yet shown the all-around control that would justify calling them the league’s dominant team. Johnson has different ways to attack, and Williams’s development gives the offense a chance to function even when the initial play is covered. Those strengths can carry Chicago a long way.
The unresolved question is how well the team can win when the offense is good rather than exceptional. Fewer coverage mistakes would keep opponents from answering so quickly. Better execution on offense would avoid some of the short fields that complicated the opener. Chicago does not need to change the ambition, but it needs more reliable contributions across the team to meet it.
Asked during the week about guarding against overconfidence, Johnson kept his answer tied to the next game: “We haven’t put up any points this week.” His offense has given the Bears a reason to expect more; the rest of the team still has to make that expectation sustainable.
More from TSP: Chicago Bears depth chart · Week 1 Sunday recap.
